Saiunkoku Monogatari – 10 – Shiurei can take her exam :)

This episode marks the end of the Ensei arc. He reveals why he came, and takes off at the end of the episode. Unfortunately, my crappy Japanese skills weren’t enough to find out why he came in the first place, but apparently, his task was to deliver something. Ryuuki also managed to produce a law that approves women to take the national exam, which brings Shiurei another step closer to her dreams.

We start with Ryuuki finally finishing the complicated law. After all, such a law, which permits women to enter the palace requires a huge change in culture, so it has to be prepared very carefully. When Ryuuki finally manages to finish it, he gets a big smile on his face. After all, he’ll be able to see Shiurei again. ^^;

We then turn to Shiurei and Ensei, visiting the grave of Shiurei’s mother. It appeared that she was an amazing person in Shiurei’s eyes. It also seems that the day afterwards will be either her birthday, or her death’s anniversary. Shiurei asks for Ensei’s family, though then it appears that they’re all dead. Shiurei also still hasn’t recovered from her death, as she turns emotional for a moment.

We then turn to the next day, to a very interesting conversation between Ryuuki, Kouyuu and Ran. Ryuuki, with his happiest and most childish voice, presents his plan. He let Shouka proofread the plans, just in case. Apparently, it has one major flaw,as Ryuuki screams when he finds out Shouka’s comments. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch what that one might’ve been. Back to Kijin, Kei, Shiurei and Ensei: they get bothered by a couple of lawbreakers who apparently took a wrong turn and ended up in Kijin’s office. Ensei then shows everyone his powers in battle by smashing one of these guys with a chair.

Afterwards, Kijin and Ensei have a small talk, and somehow they say something that ends the both of them up having tea at Shiurei’s. Afterwards, even more unexplainable things happen, as Ryuuki, Kouyuu, Seiran and Ran sneak into the gardens of Shiurei’s house. There, they meet up with Ensei, who had been waiting for them. Then, a bunch of outlaws appears out of nowhere and the five of them then have to knock these guys out. Still, it was very amusing to see them doing this while just continueing their talk. As if these guys didn’t exist at all. ^^

Then, Kijin and Kouyuu have a strange conversation, and Shiurei sees what happened in her back yard. Ryuuki is extremely glad that she’s back. They wonder where Ensei went, though apparently, he took the opportunity to shave himself (I read somewhere that he hated to shave, which only makes this scene more funny). When he gets back, Shiurei needs a bit of time to recognize who he is. Ensei then bows to Ryuuki, and explains who he is. Apparently, he’s some kind of important warrior. He then gives Ryuuki a few items. They don’t say me anything, but they must have some kind of value. In any case, everyone talks a bit (which is not too good when trying to follow a raw) and Shiurei ends up cooking dinner for everyone. Ryuuki then takes this opportunity to ask Shiurei what happened to the ice, flowers, eggs and straw doll that he gave her, and it seems that she managed to find good use for them. ^^

Ryuuki then gives Shiurei a branch of a tree, which makes her remember the first episode. She even cries on this, after which the ignorant Ryuuki feels confident to kiss her again. Do I still have to mention that Shiurei’s not too happy with this? (So funny ^^) Anyway, the next morning, Ryuuki, Kouyuu and Ran say goodbye again, but not before Ryuuki tells her that he managed to introduce a law that allows women to take the national exam (don’t ask me how). Ensei also says goodbye, as it seems that delivering the package to Ryuuki was his only task. He takes off again, to somewhere unknown.

Then Shou Taishi (the old advisor guy) closes the episode, with even more unexplainable stuff. I managed to read somewhere that he is indeed one of the eight sages, which does explain his transformation in the sixth episode. He now does something to a bottle of insence, in order to make its smoke turn into another guy. I’m not surprised if that were to be another of the eight sages. Apparently, he was needed for something.

Ah well, the series has passed its 25%-mark. And so far, I’m very happy with it. Especially the quirky characters turn this into an awesome anime. There’s also so much more to the plot than that what we’ve seen up till now. After all, Shiurei can now take her exam and become a goverment official. What will happen afterwards? We’ve still got twenty-nine episodes to fill.

Some of questions for this episode:
– Why did Ensei have to deliver the package in the first place, why did he stay with Shiurei for so long, and why didn’t he just go straight to Ryuuki when he had the chance?
– What happened to the eight sages after they disappeared? Apparently, some of them died and some of them stayed alive. But is there any reason for that? And why did Shou Taishi need the other sage-dude to come back?
– How exactly did Shiurei’s mother die?
– Why were those outlaws near Shiurei’s house, why did Ryuuki know about it, and why didn’t they send a squad of soldiers to take care of them?
– How did Ensei meet up with Seiran?
– Will Shiurei be able to immediately take the exams, or are there special dates for people to take it?